Missed it by THAT much!

November 2^nd! I didn’t get to dive in October.  I have this odd personal goal to try to dive 12 months consecutively, and I still haven’t been able to do it.  Oh, I’ve done at least one dive in each month, but never for 12 consecutive months…. This year we got messed up with the ice in February, so that messed up the last one, now, I missed October, so….back to the drawing board…at least if February gives us a Frozen quarry, I won’t be QUITE as upset as I was last year…ok…Let it go….

This time of year is mixed for me, I’m happy that the college football season is here, and that I still have season tickets to Penn State, but the weekends are funky in regards to when I can get out and dive.  Depending upon the schedule, I can sometimes, come home after a game, get a good night’s sleep, then get up and go in the morning, but this season has been kind of crazy (and add in that we are going to two away games, doesn’t help get me out diving)  The Wednesday night season is over, and until the clocks change, why NOT keep the Wednesday nights open…. On October  1^st I sat in my living room, at about 5:30pm and thought “there’s no reason we couldn’t be diving tonight”  Anyway...enough of my complaining… I WAS able to get to a game yesterday, and out today!

I shot a note to Rob earlier in the week, and we decided that we’d talk about it again on Saturday.  After the game, I called him, and he was still willing to go. John was also in the mix so we had a little group.  I had to miss the Columbus Day dives due to one of the aforementioned away games, but now I was back in the mix.  This is also the end of Daylight Savings Time, so that extra hour of sleep helped!

We were meeting at 11:00am.  I looked outside when I did wake up, and saw that it was blustery, might make for some fun setting up, but I knew I wouldn’t sweat my buns off getting into my dry suit. (And Susie said that a few people that were out yesterday said that the water was warmer than the air.)  My Dive Rite regulators were in for their service, and hopefully to fix a leaking issue, so Rob texted me and said that they were ready, and he’d bring them today so we could test them, and make any adjustments tomorrow night if necessary. (I just had to put my transmitter on, and the clips) 

We sort of formulated a plan once we got down to the water, John ran it by us, and it seemed to be a good one. (And I’m sure I’ll mess it up since we covered a LOT of ground…so correct me if I’m wrong)  Down to 20ft. for the bubble check. (well after I wet breathed the regs and made sure they were fine in those respects)(safety first!)  We got to the tree, and no errant bubbles to speak of from anyone (Rob serviced his this week as well) and we were off!   We followed John past some of the trees, and over the boats past the Pennsy until we hit the pipe, and started down past the CAT.  We looked at each other, and things still seemed fine, so we continued down to the Deep Boat.  Another quick glance, and we were soon swimming over the 110 ft. trench and out towards the Outhouse. There was a lot of swirly stuff on the bottom (Cue the Pink Floyd music) and it was neat to swim through, but I had to focus and keep an eye on John and Rob, so I didn’t lose them.  Over the rocks, and soon someone saw the Tripod tree, and we were at the Outhouse.  After checking in again, John took a heading, and we were headed out to the Step Van.  A few fin kicks later, and there was the rubble from a building, and the Step Van.  Next up was back out towards the Deep Boat, then past it and over the hill down towards the pump control building.  The visibility was pretty crappy there, so no use in going down any further.  Back towards the CAT, then along the ridge over to the wall. We passed over the pretzel jug on a stick, and were soon at the wall and making a left.  We followed the wall for a while, and we ended up just below the Aqua Adventures truck. John went through it, Rob went over it, and I went around it.  We met at the back, then followed through the trees out to the wall. Once we passed the boat with the fuzzy caterpillar on it, we started up to our safety stop.  Five (and a half) minutes later we were headed out and back to our exit point.

Deepest Depth: 94 ft.

Duration: 48 minutes

Coldest Temp: 37º

Not a horrible dive for being out of the water for over a month, but a few little things went “wonky” for me.  Down at depth, I couldn’t seem to get back off of the bottom, when I did, I got a little floaty, and was afraid I was going to do a feet first ascent, probably just an out of practice thing, but always a concern, when I’m not THAT comfortable. (well and narced)  But no mishaps to speak of, really.  Regulators breathed fine, and it good to have the Dive Rites back! Both John and Rob did work on them, and they did a great job, thanks guys!  Rob’s seemed to work fine for him, so nothing equipment related went wrong, and we made it back in one piece, so that was a good thing!

The weather was still cold and windy, so putting everything away was a challenge (and I cut my finger on something so it was a challenge trying not to get blood all over everything)  After we were done packing, we decided that lunch was in order, and since PizzAtown was on our way home, we decided to stop!  (and have a cold beer as well)

Can’t say when I’ll be back in the water, another away game next weekend, then a home game that we don’t know the time yet.  November 22^nd is another away game that I won’t be attending so there’s a possible weekend (well unless the Mrs. decides we should go out of town, then…bummer!)  (well unless it includes a winery or brewery…)

See you next time!

Wow…Already?

It’s hard to believe that the Wednesday night dive season is OVER!   Like most any other anticipated activity, it takes forever to get here, and then is over in a snap!   It’s also hard to believe that my life is going that fast as well. (another dilemma to discuss another day…)

On most Wednesday nights, the logistics of getting my wife home from work, and on to HER evening, and then me driving to Bainbridge is an issue, but her timing was about 45 minutes earlier than usual tonight, and I was on the road with a swiftness not often anticipated!  When I arrived, there were two guys that were in the office chatting with Susie and Steve, and I was the first one back to the water!  I had my pick of tables, but opted for my usual spot.  Not long after I was unloaded, a few people started to arrive, including Ron who asked if he could tag along with Rob and me. His partner for the evening was having some sinus issues, and his other usual partners were doing other things tonight.  I didn’t think it would be a problem, and when Rob showed up, he agreed.  The usual crew (other than ours) that is usually there was sort of small, I was surprised at the lack of people setting up at Upper A.  Right as we were heading down to the water, one of the other groups drove up, but it was still a small contingency for the last Wednesday night.

After we set up our gear, we wandered down the steep path, and submerged beneath the rolling waves to about 20 feet to do a quick bubble check. We were fine, so we continued on. Rob was leading, I was in the center, and was Ron sort of behind and to the left of me. (thankfully that he has a better light with him than the last time we had him tag along, which ironically was the FIRST Wednesday night dive!?  Did he plan this?)  We passed the boat with the fuzzy caterpillar on it, then swam through the trees. Rob found the pipeline rather quickly, he turned and checked with us, and we were all good, so we continued along the pipe.  With the recent change in weather, my sinus’s were in a bit of a weird way, and my ears were really singing each time I cleared.  I was hoping that I would be ok, and was getting slightly worried, but as we came upon the CAT I could feel that “pop” and I knew that things were good.  We followed down the slope and were soon taking a lap around the Deep Boat. Rob checked with us, and we were both good, and then pointed out towards the wall.  We followed along, and as we hit the wall, took a left, and passed under the Pump House.  Rob was on a higher plane, and I was a little lower than I wanted to be. As we got closer to the rocks, I decided to go around them rather than up closer to Rob and over them. Ron stayed with me, and I kept Rob in my sights.  We were soon passing the group of trees, and over more boulders. I stayed in my lower plane, and couldn’t get to a comfortable spot so much that I felt like I swam UNDER the tripod tree.  We got out to the Outhouse, and I was able to pop up a slight bit. Rob pointed out that I did a little bit of kicking up, on the way back there, which I figured I would with where I was in the water. I actually think some of it was my reel dragging more than anything at a point where the ground came up to meet me.  We followed the bottom of the wall back and were soon beneath the Pump House.  I ascended and checked on the Lobster, and we made our way up the cliff.  As we got close to the line, the “late” group was swimming near the Aqua Adventures truck, so we took a right, and hit the line to go back out to the CAT.  At the CAT, we came back in and noticed that it was REALLY kicked up, (not my fault this time) but continued on along the wall.  We followed Rob for a while until he turned, and we followed him back into the Bowl.  When we hit the Bowl, it was just dark, and I almost ran into the Pennsy.  I kept my light on Rob’s fins (and Ron said he kept his light on me) and we followed him around through some trees until we were at one of the boats.  At the boats, Rob pointed to the exit point so we followed and were soon doing our safety stop.  Rob did a successful valve drill, and Ron and I watched. Once he was done, we found our exit point and finished our dive.

Duration: 44 minutes

Deepest Depth: 95 ft.

Coldest Temp:  37º

Not my most comfortable dive, but not a bad dive.  The visibility is getting pretty bad, and for a short time it was tough keeping track of Rob, but none of us ever got completely separated. (and thankfully Rob still has the yellow fins)  I had some depth issues again tonight, not sure why, but just another thing to keep working on.  Sometimes I feel that I can’t find my “spot”, and have trouble trying to get back to it. I just felt like I was always at least two to three feet below Rob.  Ron said my trim looked pretty good so that’s a plus!

Looking over the summer, I only ended up missing three Wednesday nights.  Two of which weren’t my fault; one week was closed because of a storm knocking trees all over the road the night before, and another from a storm that just kicked up when we got there. (and soaked rob while he napped on a picnic table) So if it weren’t for weather related issues, I would have only missed one! (and Rob wouldn’t have missed any!)   I’m not a big fan of this time of year, because usually the Wednesday nights helped when the weekends were occupied. We’re getting into the crazy part of the football season, and I have plenty of games to go to, both home and away, so the weekends are getting tough.  Looking at my calendar, I think my next outing will be the John Weaver Invitational Columbus Day Adventure at Dutch Springs. I didn’t think I was going to make it at first, but I was informed that we’ll be home on Sunday. (I’ll be at the Penn State-Michigan football game out in Ann Arbor the previous few days)

After packing we all went to PizzAtown where they’re getting stingy with the buzzers for alerting you that your food is ready.  We must have embarrassed Ron last week when he drank “non-beer-snob” beers, he actually had a couple Tröegenators tonight! (Hope he made it home ok)

OK, so that’s it for the Wednesday night diving for the Summer (and the Summer in general since we’re now in Autumn)(and probably September...well for me at least)  so I am OUT of here…See you on June 3^rd  2015 for the beginning of NEXT year’s Wednesday night dive season!

Sunday Divers

Well, my original plans for how I was spending my weekend changed a bit, and I found that I was going to actually be home on Sunday, and if my estimation was correct, I’d be home at a decent enough time to be able to get a good night sleep, and possible go diving if we went maybe a little later than we normally do on a weekend. So I shot Rob an email and asked what he thought.  He seemed to agree that it was workable so I told him I’d be in touch after the game to let him know for certain.  On my way home I texted him and we agreed upon a time, so life is good! (Don’t worry, I was stuck in traffic when I was texting)

Being the proactive and efficient person I am, I had my car already packed, and had an exit plan for the tailgating items in my other car…anything perishable would get refrigerated, anything else could wait until the next day.  All was good, so when I got home last night, I was able to hit the sack at a decent hour, and get up at a decent hour.  As I found my way to my computer while having my coffee,  Rob noticed I was up and asked if going a little earlier would work, and it did!   So 12:00 because 11:30 and I was on my way!   When I got to Upper A there was a dive class, and the DM of the day was none other than Lee who we haven’t seen in a while. (Diving wet, and one of his sons was in the class)  It was good to catch up with the Captain!  Rob showed up shortly after I got there and we set about getting ready to get wet.  Neither of us got fills since Wednesday night, but had plenty of gas in our cylinders to perform at least a 30-40 minute dive, safely!

After we set it all up, we waddled down to Upper A and were soon getting down to 20 ft.  All systems go and we were off.  Lee warned us that they kicked it up good for us, and he wasn’t kidding, although I think their kicking up didn’t do much to the foggy viz.  Past the boats, and through the trees, and we were soon passing under the pipeline.  Making a slight left, we followed the pipe and went down in the direction of where we thought the CAT would be.  Rob noticed that it was a little further off to our left, and after checking in, we continued down.  I felt that we guessed where the Deep Boat was in relation to where we started our descent, and were soon spying the back end of it.  Passing on the right, and around the front, Rob turned to the right and gave me the OK, I returned it and he pointed to the far wall, so I agreed.  Following over bottom muck and passing some of the debris landmarks, we were soon at the base of the wall, and following along past the Pump House.  Rob took the higher plane over the rocks, and took a little more of a lower trajectory, going around some of the boulders rather than over them. (I felt a little lighter than usual, and didn’t want to get floaty)  Passing the trees, and over more rocks, we soon were staring at the Tripod Tree, and heading towards the Outhouse. Rob went a little right of the Outhouse, and looked off in that distance (well what he could see)  He turned and checked in with me, and pointed in the direction we came, but were seemingly off closer to the wall.  As we passed back by the Tripod Tree and other trees we were now over the 110 Foot Trench.  Rob was tempted to go down into it further, but opted to stay at his depth.  I was a little lower and swam through some of the fog which was pretty neat.  After we passed over it, we were ascending by the Pump House.  Rob noticed that someone made a little fort for the Lobster, so I pulled him out, brushed him off and put him back on his usual perch.  We exchanged OK’s and were starting our ascent up the wall.  Seeing that we weren’t playing with a full deck…I mean diving with full tanks, Rob gave me a quick gas check, and I was good.   We continued and found the line that goes out to the CAT, and did a nice deep stop at 60 ft.  We turned and started back into the Bowl, and were soon passing the Pennsy.  The bowl was pretty kicked up, so I just made sure that I could either see Rob’s light, or his fins, and followed him through the dense fog.   We soon passed the boats again and Rob gave me the thumbs up signal so I agreed, and we headed to our safety stop.  Rob did a successful valve drill, and we ended the dive.

Duration: 43 Minutes

Deepest Depth: 97 feet

Coldest Temp: 37º

Probably THE most relaxing dive I’ve had this year!   No pressure, no problems, no issues to speak of. I felt like I was gliding through the water, but felt MAYBE a little lighter due to how much gas I started with, but had no major issues.  Rob is still working the kinks out of using his new computer, and was able to figure out how a few more things worked. 

We talked to Lee again, and saw that the dive class he was working with all passed, so welcome some more new divers to our realm! After we packed we went to PizzAtown and had a nice later than usual lunch.  After getting home, I finished unpacking the tailgating items from my other car, then unpacked my dive gear… So the ending to a perfect weekend!  Nothing like attending a college football game AND diving in the same weekend!  Let’s see how I can do this again!

Ok, I’m out of here. The last Wednesday night is upon us, and who knows how often we’ll get to this as the fall rolls in, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Close to the End….

I have mixed feelings about this time of year. I love the fact that college football season is in full swing, when my wife and I would go to the Jersey Shore, this was the time of year we usually went. And the temperatures are VERY mild…love that long sleeve t-shirt in the morning, shorts and a t-shirt during the day, and sweatshirts at night. (not to mention not sweltering when getting into your dry suit) But it sucks because Wednesday night diving is over!  (and this year I wish September had 31 days!)  Hard to get back into that Wednesday rut after four months of this!   Trust me…I TRIED last night when I stopped in the shop by stating “hey, we got screwed out of two because of the weather” which was just laughed at by Steve and Susie!   My wife wonders why they don’t just keep doing it until the time change…I do as well, but, no use complaining!   One more left, so get there while the “gett-in’s” good!

As usual, though, I was running a little late due to the fact that my wife knows she needs to leave work earlier on Wednesdays, so she makes appointments early, and still runs late.  I broke a few speed laws on my way to the quarry, but no squirrels or chipmunks were harmed in the process…the deer knew better!   As I arrived, the majority of the usual Wednesday night contingency was already set up, and doing their pre-dive chatting.  Todd was diving with Ron, tonight. (and I wish they’d write a report on their experience! Sounded interesting!) I set my gear up, as Rob (who must have been cold) was getting into his dry suit undergarments.  I did MY usual pre-dive (hitting the Porta-potty) to Rob saying “Take your time”.  I was still mostly dressed before him, and was able to notice that his new toy was on his wrist backwards. (and who says we don’t do proper buddy checks!)  All set and down the steep access we went. 

No plan discussed, but I figured that since he got a new dive computer he’d be putting it through its paces, so I just knew to follow, and keep an eye on any odd path’s, and make sure he didn’t go head first into the Pennsy (God knows it has enough dents in it!)  (I’m talking about his head not the Pennsy...that thing is like a ROCK, I’ve run into it in the bad viz!)  Down to 20 ft. and we were all good with no oddly shaped bubbles to speak of.  The other thing about this time of year is that the visibility is usually crud, so it’s like doing a “Stevie Wonder” dive the first five or so minutes until you get below 60 feet. So past the boats and some of the bottom debris we went.  Seeing how we passed the pipe, I figured that we were taking a different path (I knew that he couldn’t have missed it)  A few more fin kicks and we were at the Aqua Adventures truck. (I remember this one)  We checked in after we passed around the back, and Rob gave the “down” signal, so I agreed.  We started down the hill and were soon staring at the little Lobster on the Pump House.  We followed the bottom of the wall past the 110ft. trench. (which had some NASTY haze on and coming out of it…almost like a witches cauldron…I love being narced!)  We followed along the wall, and over the rocks. I was checking out some of the bottom crud, some stuff looks like rock with crud on it, other stuff is just mounds of crud.  I usually wave my glove over it to watch it move, if it dissipates a little, it’s just dust on a rock, if it just moves, then it’s that jelly crud! We swam along, and soon saw the Tripod Tree.  On Sunday, Rob said he could see the Outhouse from there, so I tried hard to see if I could, and in that hazy visibility, I have to admit that I could see the outline of the top.  We met at the back of the Outhouse (and I was thinking, I could use this about now, that Powerade I drink goes right through me) Rob gave me the “we’re not bothering with the big boulder” signal, so we turned and headed back along the bottom of the wall.  I could see Rob playing with his computer on this part of the trip, so I made sure that the wall wasn’t far off from my left.  After we passed over the trench, I could see him heading out and we passed some of the landmarks on our way to the Deep Boat.  We checked in at the Deep Boat, and everything was still good. Rob went behind, and was following along the top of the wall to the hole a bit, and then we started up the slope and were soon passing the CAT.  Further along up the hill, past the pick-up, and then over into the bowl, which was hazy and a little kicked up.  When we passed around the front of the Pennsy, Rob gave me the “ready to go up?” signal. I had to agree since I REALLY wished I went when we were at the Outhouse!  So up the hill we went to our safety stop spot.  I was having a “sinus” issue in my mask, but saw that Rob wanted to do a valve drill, so I switched to my short hose and got my long hose ready just in case.  Rob did a successful valve drill (well from my perspective) then asked if I wanted to do one, but with my “issue” I decided to forgo it. So we made our way to the exit spot and we were done!

Duration: 46 minutes

Deepest Depth: 94 feet

Coldest Temp: 37º

I WILL have to say that this was one of my most comfortable dives in as far as my trim, and attitude in the water, as well as being just comfortable the whole time.  That’s another thing about this time of year, just when I get that perfect “hang” of things; I don’t dive as much, and can’t continue to perfect how I want to be in the water.  I really think I need to move to Florida and get a job diving…another story…

After we were done Rob commented on how his new computer worked, and as usual there are bugs to work out to get it to where you want it to be, and learn how it all operates.  I think it’s good because between him and Ron (and John) I’ll have a few ‘experts’ to ask by the time I’m able to get one.

After packing, we all went to PizzAtown, and had dinner. Rob and Todd were recalling some memories from a live-aboard trip they both were on, and Ron talked about his recent trip. (a few of our friends are on a trip and nicely put up a picture of them waiting for their boat…. Happy diving guys!  We’ll expect lots of pictures!)

Ok, so that’s it for me I’m OUT of here!   This weekend doesn’t look good for me as far as diving, but I plan on being there for the last Wednesday night dive!   Hope you are going as well!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!